If you haven't noticed, it's s nearly Christmas! We're hard at work doing Christmassy stuff. I've arranged for Santa Claus to bring our kids a play kitchen this year. They already have one made of old moving boxes but 1. It's enormous, so we can't have it out all the time, 2. The Giant Husband made the fridge/pantry and it's awful, but he's proud of it so I can't replace it, and 3. The Giant Baby constantly freaks out that Tiny is going to break it. So I figured, if we get a proper one, I know they're going to use it. I want to make some felt pasta to go with it, but I don't really know if I'm going to get around to it.
Our current play kitchen
The Giant Baby is changing his mind constantly about what he wants. First it was Lego, then Grossery Gang toys, Enchantimals, Shopkins, cars, Ghostbusters toys etc. The first time he changed his mind, I'd just bought Lego for his present, and I panicked. But now he's changed his mind so many times that I'm pretty sure he'll be happy with whatever he gets.
Tiny, meanwhile, has her first dance concert next week. Yeah, you read that right, and yes, it is bizarre but I don't really have a choice. I did not enrol her in dance classes. There are, on the other hand, dance classes in our back room on Mondays. And Tiny has decided she's taking tiny ballet. Nobody else has a say. (Actually she wants to join in the big kids ballet and hip hop too but usually gets kicked out of those.)
My doll collection has had a massive cull. Anything that I don't care about or have no plans of getting out of storage, has gone.
I've also removed Zihu and Paige's face ups. They'll have new identities soon. I want to try doing their face ups with water colours. I don't know how well that will work but I'm better at water colours than pastels, so it's worth a try.
Once the Christmas crazies are over, I will probably take you on a tour of my remaining doll collection. Or at least I plan to. We're on the countdown to the Giant Baby starting kindergarten (Australian kindergarten is the equivalent of US preschool) so I should have more free time to post stuff and do stuff next year. (FORTY-ONE DAYS TO GO! YAY!)
An update on my post office story. They gave me the run around but then agreed to a partial refund. It's not enough to get enough ink to reprint the dolls myself but it IS enough to get them professionally reprinted. Which is ridiculous and proves what I've always said, home printers are a waste of money. (But convenient, if they work, and have ink in them . . . Ugh, ok, they're awful but these days they're pretty much the only way to buy a scanner.)
I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas, or whatever they feel like celebrating.
I've got a lot of my Christmas shopping done. The only child I have to buy presents for any more is my niece, and we won't see that part of the family until after Christmas. I do have sewing that I want to accomplish, but I'm trying not to freak out about it. The people that I'm sewing for are getting other things too, so they will still get something to open if I don't get the sewing done.
ReplyDeleteMy youngest daughter loved ballet. She studied ballet for eleven years, and danced en pointe for four and a half. It's a great discipline to study. Tiny apparently is very good at figuring out what she wants, and going after it! I think she's just as good as some of the three-year-olds I've seen on a recital stage, even if she usually would be considered too young. :)
I plan on taking a bunch of pictures of the dolls that you culled, that made their way to me, but after the holidays for sure now.
Have you thought about using watercolor pencils? A lot of artists like to use them for face ups. Don't forget the Mr. Super Clear!
We've got a black and white printer, that Mr. BTEG and the Dancer use all the time, for their gaming stuff. I also use it to print out PDF patterns that I buy online. Then we have a scanner which is a hand-me-down from one of my husband's co-workers. I don't think the attached printer works. Anyway, Mr. BTEG is talking about buying a color printer in 2020. There are loads of things I would like to be able to print in color, so we'll see how that works out.
I hope you have a wonderful Christmas, and that Giant and Tiny are happy with their presents.
My sewing is a lot like yours. I want to make the pasta because the kids saw some recently but it was fifty dollars, so I wouldn't let them get it. But they are getting a heap of play food, so if I don't get it done by Christmas, it won't be the end of the world.
DeleteGood idea with the pencils. I have literally tins of them that I've never used and always forget about.
If you do get a colour printer, definitely consider getting one with separate tanks for each ink colour. There is nothing worse than having to replace all the ink just because one colour has gone!
Well it sounds like you're all organised Rachael. That's a lovely photo of the kids with Santa. I shall look forward to seeing the new face ups and I'm pleased you received a partial refund at least, better than zip!
ReplyDeleteHappy Christmas tou you all!
X
I feel less organised than I am!
DeleteHopefully I get the face ups done soon, but I wouldn't hold my breath, I'm both lazy and busy, so they've been waiting for a base coat of MSC for nearly a month!